Saturday, October 20, 2007

The Blind Pig finds Slop: Cal Thomas on Global Warming and The War On Terror

Cal Thomas is one of those writers whose agreement with me prompts reconsideration of my position.

For example, imagine finding youself in agreement with someone who could say something like this:

"The Church of Global Warming (CGW) is a cult. A cult has a number of definitions, among them this one from dictionary.com: “A religion or sect considered to be false, unorthodox, or extremist, with members often living outside of conventional society under the direction of a charismatic leader.” Cults wish to control others. Global warming fundamentalists wish to do the same through the power of government."

You've got to love a guy who doesn't even follow his own rules. Those accepting the scientific findings associated with anthropocentric global warming (AGW) are otherwise normal people, they don't constitute anything remotely resembling a church, live among everyone else, and have no leader determining correct doctrine. If you think Al Gore qualifies, you don't understand the issue. AGW is supported by scientific research, not Gorian proclamations. Gore is merely the messenger, albeit a good one.

But towards the end of an otherwise wasteful rhetoric about Jimmy Carter and Al Gores movies, comes a point of view I've often considerd and wondered why it doesn't get dicussed more often:

"Republicans and Democrats repeatedly tell us we rely too much on foreign oil, especially that which comes from a current trouble spot, the Middle East, and that which comes from a potential trouble spot, Venezuela. Might it be possible for the CGW crowd and the Church of Free Enterprise (CFE) to come together for the common purpose of reducing our reliance on foreign oil? CGW fundamentalists would get what they want — a reduced carbon footprint and supposedly lower global temperatures (go ahead and let them believe it) — while CFE parishioners would rejoice that Saudi Arabia’s hold on us (not to mention its use of our money to underwrite terrorism) could be broken.

If we would launch an energy independence program with the intensity of a Marshall Plan for Europe, or a man-on-the-moon project, to liberate ourselves from the petroleum despots by developing synthetic fuels and finding new energy sources closer to home — especially nuclear power — we could strike a blow against the Islamofascists more damaging than bombs and bullets."

Indeed, this is where the Green Party and the Republicans actually come together. The more America goes green, the less we rely on oil from places like Iran, which should reduce the friction between our cultures. So why aren't Global Warming and the War on Terror teaming up on this? The only thing I can think of about the idea is that Cal Thomas likes it, so there must be a flaw somewhere...

About Me

I have a mathematics background, an interest in science, and an unapologetic impatience for sloppy thinking. This puts me at odds with both right and left. It's high time the rational scientific viewpoint got the rabid proponent it deserves. I fight nonsense so the scientists don't have to. The blog is not necessarily about science, but rather is a scientific view of the world. Rational, civilly expressed, factually supported thought-out opposing views are welcome. Disparaging, irrational, intentionally obtuse, troll-like whack-a-mole, quote-mining posts will be dispatched without hesitation or apology, as will tit-for-tat partisan "the other side does it too" political gamesmanship, and opinions of what topics I should be writing about. We don't do that here.